


Second

by GamblingDementor



Category: In the Heights - Miranda
Genre: Family Feels, M/M, Platonic Relationships, Slice of Life, Trans Sonny
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-31
Updated: 2016-12-31
Packaged: 2018-09-13 19:35:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9139105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GamblingDementor/pseuds/GamblingDementor
Summary: Vanessa and Camila's relationship over the years. Because everyone deserves an almost-daughter or an almost-mom.





	

0

 

The Garcías from two blocks over are having a baby at the same time as Camila and Kevin. They met when their first appointment to the OB/GYN was booked right after the Rosarios', and the next one as well. They've made a point of having their check up the same day by now. Every time they run into each other, Camila marvels at Maria's belly, swelling bigger and bigger, and they chat for much longer than they should, making the doctor wait. The Garcías say they're having a baby girl. So are Camila and Kevin − he is thrilled already, cannot wait for his beautiful princess to finally show her face. From visit to visit, the four of them become friends. Camila hopes her little girl will find as good a friend in Maria's child as they do as mothers.

 

1

 

Even though she was due a couple weeks later, Nina decides to poke her little head out early, earlier than Maria's girl who was supposed to arrive first. Kevin says their daughter was too eager to see the world, couldn't wait for her due date. There is no one in the world as pretty as their Nina with her big eyes and curly hair, but little Vanessa, born only a few short days after her, might be a close second. All frowns where Nina is smiles and wonders, she is still a lovely baby. While Maria and Camila are recuperating, Kevin and Tony are already planning out their child's life with all hopes in the world, have it all figured out. When they invite each other over at their homes, they put Nina and Vanessa in the same crib and they reach for each other, hold hands, and cry whenever they're separated. Still infants and already best friends.

 

2

 

Two sets of chubby legs padding across the room faster than any toddler has the right, dashes of dark hair and giggles and babbling that sounds as much like Spanish as it does English, Nina and Vanessa are inseparable. Every play date is Nina's favorite part of the day, every game with Vanessa the best game. It's a pleasure to watch over the two girls. Camila has never been one to idle lazily but she could watch them run back and forth, play and chat for hours.

 

3

 

Nina speaks in fuller sentences than Vanessa, more articulate and quick-minded. Vanessa runs faster, has more dexterity, but Kevin says that's not nearly as important as Nina's brains. Camila wouldn't have noticed much difference between the two girls if it weren't for his insistence on ranking them, who walked first, who was pottytrained earlier, who spoke first and best. Camila doesn't care. Her girl is smart, everyone knows that, even as a toddler they all see it, but she doesn't need to analyze and compare every skill of her daughter's best friend to Nina to know that. She asks Kevin to stop with those silly competitions.

 

4

 

Kevin and Camila's ideal family has always only ever been a triangle. They never intended having more children than their Nina. Her being an only child means she gets all their savings and all their attention, everything she needs, undivided. It means she'll go higher and farther than her parents ever will. Vanessa is an only child as well, but Maria confesses she wishes they'd have a bigger family. There were medical complications at birth, however, and Vanessa is all they'll ever get. They cherish her extra for the siblings they wanted her to have but never will. Camila sees her own child, their Vanessa, how perfect they both are, and hopes that Vanessa gets all the opportunities and that as many doors open to her as they will for Nina, God willing.

 

5

 

Nina is barely in Kindergarten and already she can read as good as a middleschooler, or so Kevin claims. Camila doesn't want to compare Nina to anyone because she is inimitable, but still, she can't deny the facts when they're plain in front of her. Nina and Vanessa are huddled on the couch with a thick book of fairy tales Nina asked for Christmas and she's reading with her friend. Where Vanessa butts against the words, the letters even, forces her way upstream with difficulty, Nina is surfing down the text, as fluently as if she was making it up as she goes. Far from getting jealous, Vanessa listens with widened eyes, clutching her heart in the emotional parts, as engaged with the story as other kids might be with a movie in front of their eyes. Camila prays that always her daughter's talents will be met with admiration and fondness.

 

6

 

A loud yelp from Abuela Claudia's home across the street interrupts Camila's paperwork. Before she knows it, the girls come running inside the dispatch booth, giggling little minxes. They hide under her desk, clutching her legs, and sure enough, before long, the De la Vega boy dashes inside with the anger of a thousand wasps. His face is covered in ink and he squeaks out in his cracking voice about a horrible prank in terrible taste, and how he was going to go out with friends and now cannot be seen outside, and the girls keep as silent and still as they can, but Camila is fairly sure even Usnavi can't have missed the little huffs of laughter from under the desk. She replies politely that she has not seen the girls, but gives them a scolding as soon as he's left the booth.

 

7

 

Children are a miracle, if also a curse when they're naughty. Camila loves her Nina, loves that she sees all of Kevin's ambition in her and that she also works as hard as Camila herself, and yet with all that kindness and wit that is so much more than the sum of their parts. All children are like that, she knows. Little Usnavi across the street, still waiting for his growth spur, is as soft as his mother and as serious as his father, but that special Usnavi gentle heart is all his. Vanessa is the same. Camila recognizes a lot of Tony's energy and drive in her, counterbalancing Maria's quiet strength, but that snark and bravery even Nina admires in Vanessa, all that is exclusively hers. She's unique. All children are.

 

8

 

The whole barrio mourns the tragic loss of the De la Vegas, no one more so than their child left all on his own. Orphaned at just thirteen, everyone chips in to help him, Claudia most of all. It'll be Christmas soon and he hasn't left her spare room. Camila does everything she can, to help lighten that burden on her, of course, and she's not the only one. Compassion brings out the best in people, because the girls suggest all on their own to make Usnavi special cookies to make him cheer up. It's a silly notion, an eight year old's fantasy that cookies could cure the ache of grief, but Camila indulges them. There is something so endearing about her Nina reading the recipe carefully and giving Vanessa exact measurements only for her friend to not respect them in any way and dump all ingredients in the bowl after her own whims. Camila lets them make a mess of her kitchen, just this once. When the cookies are ready and fill the home with their sweet smell, Camila shoves the two girls covered in flour and icing in the bathtub to clean themselves from heads to toes. Usnavi accepts the cookies gracefully and if it doesn't make the hurt any easier, at least it made him come out of bed to accept them and chew on them wistfully. Small victories.

 

9

 

Nina and Vanessa fell in the mud playing in the park and after a long hot bath for the both of them, Camila gives herself the secret pleasure of brushing Vanessa's long shiny hair. Despite the fall and scare that came with it, Vanessa is full of joy and energy, as always around Nina, keeps chattering away happily. At home her daddy does her hair, she says, and he's good at it, but her mom always pulls too tight and oh, Nina, wouldn't it be so fun for you to switch it up? Before he knows it, Kevin is requisitioned to brush Nina's mane of thick curls. Fifteen seconds, that's how long it lasts for him to get fired on the spot because Nina can't stand his incompetence. Vanessa hurls in laughter and concludes that not everyone has a perfect dad like hers.

 

10

 

Officially, Nina is not allowed on sleepovers. They'll distract her from work and might put weird ideas about boys in her head. Nina is ten and the first of her class. She needs her brain entirely focused to keep things exactly that way. In practice, though, she sleeps over at Vanessa's pretty much every other weeks − the weeks when Vanessa isn't sleeping at their place, the grumpy but polite improvised fourth member of their household. They're good for each other. Nina pushes Vanessa to find the kindness hidden inside her and Vanessa teaches Nina to be brave and assertive. And if their whispers don't dwindle down until much too late on Friday nights, then Camila will consider that a small price to pay.

 

11

 

Vanessa isn't the most girly girl by any means but when she goes girly, she goes all out and she drags Nina with her. Camila hears screams from Nina's bedroom where they were playing with Usnavi's little cousin Nina is supposed to be babysitting. She's barely making her way up the stairs when a very distressed Sonia runs down hollering and rubbing her face. In Nina's room, the girls are surrounded with all the make-up that Camila owns all across the floor and have no idea why Sonia didn't love their makeover. Camila drags both of them to the bodega to apologize and locks up her make-up supplies on a much higher shelf.

 

12

 

Nina has a crush. Camila knows that, recognizes every sign. She's happier, breezier, suddenly more private too. It had to happen at some point, sadly, their little girl growing big. Thank God Kevin hasn't noticed a thing, but Camila considers herself a perceptive person. She tries to corner Vanessa and pry the information out of her, her daughter's very best friend who knows everything there is to know about Nina Rosario. Vanessa remains of marble. Camila tries everything, the sweet and the threats, tries to make herself so casual and bring herself to the level of a preteen or to loom over the girl and use her authority as an adult, and yet nothing. Vanessa refuses to tell a word. Nina has a crush and Camila will never know who the lucky boy is.

 

13

 

On Mondays, Nina's after classes study group ends too late for Camila to let her walk home on her own, thirteen years old, too young still. It's too dark, too dangerous, the streets filled with odd shadows and strangers and even couples mating, right up to the very school gates even now as Camila pulls up in front of the school. She groans, gets out of the car and shoos the two horny culprits away. The boy sprints away like he's been burned but the girl… Camila blurts out Vanessa's name incredulously. Far from apologetic, little Vanessa, the girl she saw being born, her Nina's best friend, the eternal three days younger than her, stares at Camila defiantly as if she hadn't just been caught with her tongue foot deep in that boy's throat. Camila wants to scream, to ask when Vanessa stopped being a little child with knotted hair and scraped knees, but Nina breaches the shocked silence between them, head and mouth full of the things she's just learned. Vanessa uses the opportunity to make her escape. Camila wonders if she's gone to find that boy again. But even more, as she listens to Nina tell her all about their most recent group project, Camila wonders if her Nina has ever made out with a boy like that. And if she would know if she had.

 

14

 

Vanessa and Nina usually spend their Monday afternoons at Abuela Claudia's, do their homework together and then have some quiet time with Claudia until they get picked up. For three weeks now, however, Camila has noticed that only Nina seems to have worked at all. Vanessa hates being called out in front of others, she knows, so she finds her later in the week, on her own, one day Nina is busy. First denial and grouch, eventually the hushed confession that she feels like school is useless and she'll never be smart like Nina, so why bother? Camila feels a surge of affection towards the girl, would hug her if Vanessa was so inclined. Instead, she offers the practical solution of giving her private lessons − Camila doesn't like to brag but it's no secret that Nina's smarts are more from her side than Kevin's. Somehow, Vanessa takes some offense in that and makes a dramatic exit, saying she needs no help, but different paths lead to the same place. The next Monday, Camila finds the girls hunched over homework at Abuela Claudia's kitchen table, Nina explaining to Vanessa the hardest parts. Camila can only rejoice and internally take all the credit for this change of heart.

 

15

 

Car crash. Tony leaves this world, his wife and daughter alone and broken. There isn't much anyone can do, there never is when someone dies, and much less for Maria and Vanessa specifically. Maria stops answering Camila's calls, their meet ups become scarce and then inexistent, Vanessa stops talking. Their grief is theirs alone to shoulder. Camila tries to make herself useful from the distance the García girls obviously need. She sends Nina over with extra batches of food every few days, hopes Vanessa is well fed and cared for. Hopes Maria is able to handle her child as well as herself. Hopes time will soothe their pain.

 

16

 

Try as she might, Camila cannot help those who don't want to be helped. It's been three weeks since her last contact with Maria at all, much longer since the last time she even saw her. People pretend they don't notice, they don't know, but behind Maria's back, Camila has heard all the whispers. Maria the drunk, Maria who got fired, Maria who got evinced out of her own home because she couldn't support herself and her daughter. Camila wants to help, by all means. It's not normal that Vanessa should be the breadwinner at just sixteen, that she should drop out of school, and yet Nina has told Camila that it's been weeks since she last saw Vanessa in class. Still, they see each other all the time, only because Nina promised not to meddle. Camila hasn't been able to do just that. One last time, she tried to go knocking on that shabby looking door at their new much smaller apartment. How she regrets that choice. With more rage than Camila had ever seen on her pretty face, Vanessa declared that Camila would never be welcome here again if she couldn't let them handle their own shit. Shocked and hurt, Camila hasn't made any further attempt.

 

17

 

The only distraction Nina is allowed, allows herself, is meeting up with Vanessa. Nowadays, Vanessa waits for her outside the home, even across the street in the bodega sometimes for Nina to meet her there. Everything to avoid the risk of seeing Camila. Camila misses the discussions they used to have, all three of them, around the kitchen table before the girls disappeared in Nina's room to chat for hours. Vanessa hasn't so much as looked her way for months, this girl Camila once treated like her own second daughter. She pretends nothing is wrong and asks Nina how Vanessa is doing, and Nina pretends nothing is wrong and answers that Vanessa is just fine.

 

18

 

Nina thinks herself all that smart, and she is, but if she for one second assumes that Camila and Vanessa are duped by her ruses to reconcile them, she is dead wrong. Accidentally running into Vanessa at the bodega, at Abuela Claudia's, booking Camila an appointment at the salon when she knows Vanessa is working. There is progress, if only just tiny steps. Vanessa meeting her eyes, Vanessa saying hello, Vanessa accepting to do her nails at the salon when Daniela asks her to − Camila cannot tell if Daniela is in on the plan. And after each awkward baby step, Nina beaming. As if they didn't know exactly what she was doing. As if they didn't know it was starting to work.

 

19

 

The first time that door opened, Camila might have shouted Alabanza and hugged the girl, marked down the date for remembrance. For there she was, Vanessa Otilia García, in the dispatch booth. Awkwardly, she handed Camila a card Nina had sent her by mistake, although they both knew there was zero mistake on her part. The conversation that ensued was stilted yet made Camila happier than she'd been in a long, long time, with her daughter far away. There's been other times after that first attempt at reconciliation. It's getting better. One of them has news about Nina, about work, about anything other than the elephant in the room that is Maria. Slowly, things patch up. It'd be better with Nina around. Everything is better when she's home.

 

20

 

Camila pushes the door of the bodega open and hell unleashes in the back aisle. Sights she never thought she'd see, God bless, and yet here she is, frozen into place. A torrent of apologies from Usnavi, and Camila had no idea it was humanly possible to pull up your pants that fast. It's almost as fast as Vanessa arranging her skirt and disappearing out of sight, with no glance at Camila or at her lover boy. The situation is so unreal Camila doesn't even find words to chide Usnavi for… for what exactly? Being young, in love, and full of hormones? He's a business owner and he should know better, of course, but she's not his mom and she's not Vanessa's mom. So she ignores that she barely caught him having sex in his own shop and orders the most awkward coffee of her life. She leaves without another word. At least now, she knows exactly why Vanessa is avoiding her gaze, and this time it's not out of spite.

 

21

 

Camila has not known what tension means until she enters Daniela's salon out there in the Bronx and finds Vanessa and Carla busy at a makeover for Maria, and Daniela sulking on her own on the other side of the room. Camila almost wishes she could just walk back out, but she's never been one to throw away an opportunity and she sits on the chair right next to Maria, and comments that she's looking lovely with that hair style. The conversation is slow and Maria sounds tired, but Camila missed the woman who used to be her friend and will cling on every interaction possible. When Maria leaves, Vanessa rushes to the backroom, Carla right at her feet, and there's hushed whispers behind that door. Daniela tells her that this is the first time Maria has left the home for three years. Vanessa is overwhelmed. Carla is helping them, Daniela says, and Maria is slowly going through the twelve steps. The next week, Camila receives a call from her. She cries when they hang up after a long, though very stilted conversation. Out of relief or compassion, she cannot say.

 

22

 

Nina may be a genius, she may be everyone's pride and the apple of Camila's eyes, but Camila has been young and in love before her and she knows how it works. She had an asshole of a father-in-law who never so much as smiled at her once in his life, and that never prevented her from meeting up with Kevin every day in that shack out the village that was their bed of love. Every time Nina is back home from college it's the same spiel all over again. She's "going to see Vanessa", making herself all pretty, putting on cute dresses, and makeup and perfume, and comes back hours later with tousled hair and a smile bigger than her face. Vanessa is in on the plan, of course, always always runs with it, and Benny is rarely even mentioned at home, even though everyone knows that Nina will end up marrying him some day, and sooner rather than later. Kevin either doesn't know of his daughter's adventures in this boy's bed, or pretends he's not seeing anything, and Camila doesn't want to risk her fragile renewed relationship with Vanessa for all of Nina's sleeping around. Maybe it'll make for a nice wedding toast.

 

23

 

Nina's graduation cannot come soon enough. Everyone has been fidgety for weeks, ready to welcome her home once and for all after this weekend. Benny has been wearing his Stanford shirt for nine days straight by the time they finally get on that plane. Vanessa and Usnavi worked on banners to hold up during the ceremony. When Nina is on that stage, Vanessa and Benny make so much noise Camila half expects the whole group to be thrown out, but it's a one-time occasion for everyone. That night, as Kevin treats everyone to restaurant, Nina is under every single person's doting attention. Benny's arm hasn't left Nina's shoulders all night, kisses dropping on her cheeks even under Kevin's glare. Usnavi is beaming, can't stop blabbering excitedly. Vanessa keeps playing with her hair, so full of pride her whole face is shining. Camila share a glance with Kevin and they're reminded once again how their Nina is not just their whole world and pride but also the whole community's.

 

24

 

Benny didn't ask Kevin for Nina's hand. He didn't even ask Camila. He asked Vanessa. He must have been persuasive, because here they are months later, everyone Nina knows invited at the wedding, and Camila's daughter is the most beautiful bride in the world. She's lovely, she's happy, she's radiating her joy and sharing it with them all. Sonny somehow catches the bouquet and everyone pats him on the back, but Camila can't help staring at Vanessa. She's the bridesmaid, of course, and she looks beyond beautiful, but it's not the outfit Camila is eying. It's the envy she tries to conceal at all this fuss, the bouquet but also the rest of the room, the love between Nina and Benny in your face everywhere you look. Later, she drags Usnavi to the dance floor during the slows − a small blessing, as this wedding is running perfectly smooth without the best man ruining the livelier dances. Their bodies interlaced, Vanessa whispering whatever sweet nothings it is that these two share into Usnavi's ear, they look adorable. Camila wonders when they'll be next.

 

25

 

There has never been a prettier baby in existence since Nina than Claudia Rosario Washington, and Camila should feel old already to be an abuelita even though she's barely fifty-two, but her infant granddaughter only has to look at her for her heart to melt and her eyes to tear up. Kevin is even worse. Vanessa is the godmother, Usnavi the godfather. He admits to Camila that he was afraid Vanessa wouldn't love her godchild, but that he kept faith, and how well it paid off. Vanessa won't say, but even with her mouth shut, it's obvious to all that she loves the baby. She keeps picking her up, doting on her, kissing Claudita's cheeks when she thinks no one's looking. The baby is barely a few weeks old and she's already offered to babysit ten times. Camila has never received so many visits from Vanessa in years than now that Nina is visiting with the child every day as well.

 

26

 

Day after day, year after year, Vanessa is happier. It's plain for everyone to see. Some doubted at the beginning, but Camila never did and she is proven right every day: Usnavi and Vanessa make each other's life so much better. Vanessa wanted out of the block and she got out, but still Camila sees her in the street every other day, strolling the block to come find her bodega worker of a boyfriend. They're gonna last, she knows. Vanessa smiles differently around him, she's softer, a better person. Usnavi is more confident, prouder, stands taller. They care about each other so dearly. Camila can't wait to see them together for as long as she will live.

 

27

 

Usnavi and Vanessa are breezier, happier ever since their trip to the Dominican Republic. He's whistling joyful melodies of his country, she's more relaxed, her skin glowing with the Caribbean sun. Seeing her so happy even weeks after their month in DR makes Camila long for Puerto Rico. She'd like to take Nina some day, show her the beaches, the city, the village where she met Kevin. Maybe visit the tomb of her grandparents. Vanessa tells her that she's never seen Usnavi as happy as he was strolling the Dominican beaches and showing her everything he knows from summers in his country when he was a child. She even confesses she might want to visit her cousins in Mexico she's never even met. Make it a trip with her mother. And bring Usnavi with her to show him off.

 

28

 

Vanessa is wearing her mother's old veil and a new dress Camila tailored for her, sewing every night for the past few weeks to make it perfect. She borrowed Nina's pearl earrings and Camila helped her into the dress and didn't miss the lace electric blue underwear. She seems to be leaving nothing to chance and be the absolute best bride the world has seen. Camila is sitting next to Maria and it's a contest of who is going to break down in tears the first. Maria, obviously, is the first to crack, and Camila is soon to follow when she sees the glint in Usnavi's eyes when Daniela walks Vanessa down the aisle. Daniela sits right next to them and pretends her own eyes are dry. The party is lovely and Vanessa doesn't leave the dance floor for hours. Camila even drags Kevin to join her there as well. The celebration lasts forever and Camila is beyond happy to see her other girl married off.

 

29

 

A door bursting open at Camila's catering service kitchens, Vanessa barges in and sits down dramatically, demanding a drink. Camila serves her a Country Club which she refuses at first and begs for something stronger, but Camila isn't about to serve her girl alcohol and especially not mid-afternoon, so Vanessa reluctantly takes it and drinks it in one go. She was having nasty feelings, she admits. Thirty years old in a few months and how much has she done that she wanted to achieve before that milestone? She hasn't done shit. Camila reminds her of her new job she recently got promoted at, of the new apartment she moved in last year, of her husband. Vanessa groans, says it doesn't count. Camila shares with her that she used to have a bucket list of her own, but as she grew older, she realized that the desires she'd had as a young woman were different than the reality of a thirty year-old woman, a forty year-old, fifty, and she just adapted to every day as it went. Vanessa only has four more freak-outs before her thirtieth birthday.

 

30

 

Vanessa and Nina have celebrated their birthdays together for as long as they've been alive and Camila has organized the party for just as long. For their thirty, it's all the more special and everyone has pitched in. Carla and Usnavi volunteered for kitchen duty with her, Benny has been requisitioned to help Pete with the DJ booth, Daniela takes care of all the decoration, and Vanessa is in charge of forbidding Nina to help with anything and to force her to take a seat back. In the end, everyone is here for a great party celebrating two exceptional ladies, especially their families. Usnavi cannot stop lavishing Vanessa with attention, clutched onto her and parading around the room they rented so everyone can see what a beautiful wife he has. Benny is simultaneously dancing with Nina _and_ their three kids while also giving music instructions to Pete. Kevin cannot shut up about how grown up his little girl is. Camila turns back to Maria, they smile. Their girls have grown up well alright.

 

31

 

Vanessa isn't as anxious as she was about getting old ever since someone (who may or may not have been a certain cousin of a certain bodega worker) pointed out that Nina was basically ages older than her. Camila doesn't love to slander, much less on her own flesh and blood, so she just likes to talk of it in terms of Nina having an old soul, Vanessa an ever fresh one. One thing is sure, Vanessa still drags her husband to the clubs every weekend, dances like there's no tomorrow, lives her life every bit as passionately as she did when she was two, five, ten years younger. Camila is glad to see her own her life that way, shape her own existence. Vanessa is happy, and that is enough.

 

32

 

Camila and Kevin are devoted grandparents, she likes to believe, but no one gives themselves as much to the task of being the best influence in Nina's children's lives than Usnavi and Vanessa. They spend their Friday afternoons there until Camila comes to pick them up for their dinner at Abuela Camila's. Camila knows they've been treated well because they're all so well behaved and gentle every time, still in the daze of being doted on by their loving uncle and his semi-reluctant wife, who is only as reluctant as she pretends to be. It's a secret very badly hidden that Vanessa has fallen for Nina's four little angels and that it's only a matter of time until she decides to have one herself.

 

33

 

Vanessa's belly is big with her first child and even three months before her due date she is terrified of birth. She was terrified of pregnancy as well and is only getting through it with Usnavi's constant support and affection. She asks Nina and Camila what birth is actually like and does not like their talk of blood clots and post-partum pads and vaginal tearings and all the likes. Nina has by far the most horror stories, of course, four children under her belt, something even Camila admires about her. Vanessa won't go through any of it, she decides on the spot. C-section or this child is staying in, those are the two only options. Every day brings her closer to the day she'll meet her little one and although Nina is pregnant with her fifth, Camila cannot say which excites her most, the prospect of getting to know her future new grandchild or Vanessa and Usnavi finally getting one of their own.

 

 

34

 

Vanessa's own little Claudia is perhaps almost as adorable as Nina's Claudita who is ten years her senior, but not nearly as cheerful, Camila has to admit. Oh, she smiles, but only ever in Usnavi's arms. Whenever he picks her up, she's all giggles and laughs, but as soon as he dares transfer her into someone else's arms, the happy baby is gone and she's fussing. Camila has come to visit and Claudia goes from giggles to tears as soon as Usnavi passes her, then settles for a deep frown when Vanessa picks her up. She asks if something's wrong with the baby, but Vanessa moodily replies that there is nothing wrong with her daughter and that she's the most amazing baby in the world. Camila doesn't ask any further question. Let her be grumpy.

 

35

 

 

Camila makes it a point of bringing fresh meals for Vanessa's family every week, make sure parents and child are eating enough and quality food. It's not that she doesn't trust Usnavi, it's that she trusts herself more. Today, Maria is already here, doting on her grandchild, giving Vanessa advice. Camila stores away the meals in Vanessa's fridge she's become very familiar with since the birth of little Claudia and joins them with some advice of her own. She knows that, being Nina's friend, Vanessa has probably received mountains of wanted or unwanted advice about children, but Camila has never really been one to keep her grain of salt to herself. Maria leaves and takes her granddaughter with her, Wednesday afternoons, which leave Vanessa to ask a favor of Camila. She needs someone to keep Claudia on Mondays and asks if Camila would agree to take her in at the same time as all of Nina's crew she's already taking. Camila is quick to say yes, of course, and Vanessa gives her one of her rare hugs, and says she's glad Claudia will get to spend time with her second abuela.


End file.
